SPORTS
The Aguttes auction house announced on Tuesday that Diego Maradona’s Golden Ball trophy, awarded for his outstanding performance as the best player at the 1986 World Cup, will soon be up for auction in France.
This iconic trophy, the first of its kind to be auctioned, is expected to command a significant price tag, with the auction house anticipating bids in the millions when it goes under the hammer on June 6th.
Maradona, who passed away in 2020, clinched the prestigious award after leading Argentina to victory in the 1986 World Cup held in Mexico. His remarkable contribution included five goals throughout the tournament, as he captained his country and showcased his brilliance on the field during every minute of play.
The 1986 World Cup remains etched in memory, particularly for Maradona’s unforgettable performance against England in the quarterfinals, where he scored two remarkable goals.
Jose Peseiro, the former head coach of Nigeria’s senior national team, continues to explain his decision to overlook NPFL players, citing their inferiority to foreign-based counterparts.
During his 20-month tenure, no NPFL player earned a spot in competitive matches for the Super Eagles, despite fervent discussions regarding their inclusion.
Peseiro departed after leading the team to a commendable second-place finish in the African Cup of Nations in Cote d’Ivoire, narrowly losing 1-2 to the host nation in the final.
Reflecting on his time with the Super Eagles, Peseiro emphasized the pressure to select NPFL talents but asserted his commitment to choosing the best players, especially after the team narrowly missed the World Cup.
“I watched many NPFL games, but none showcased the calibre of talent seen in foreign leagues. Quality must prevail over mere representation,” he remarked.
In a related development, former Super Eagles player Moses Kpakor urged Peseiro’s successor, Finidi George, to consider homegrown talents for national team selection.
Kpakor, renowned for his stints with BCC Lions and Abiola Babes, emphasized the importance of nurturing local talent and ensuring fair competition for national team spots.
“As a former NPFL player, I understand the value of giving home-based talents a chance. Finidi should prioritize merit over geography,” Kpakor asserted, advocating for inclusivity in player selection.
Jose Mourinho would love to manage Manchester United again but the club does not want to reappoint the Portuguese, according to the Manchester Evening News.
It is claimed the 61-year-old has told confidants he would “walk” to Manchester to manage United for a second time, having been sacked by the club in December 2018.
Mourinho, who was sacked by Roma in January after two-and-a-half years in charge, is reportedly a friend of United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe but the two-time Champions League winner is not expecting an approach from his former club.
Mourinho’s reported interest in the Man Utd job comes after the Red Devils suffered a humiliating 4-0 defeat at Crystal Palace on Monday which has left Erik ten Hag’s side eighth in the Premier League table.
Mourinho became Man Utd boss in May 2016 and won the Europa League and League Cup in his two-and-a-half years in the job.
The ex-Chelsea boss has since managed Tottenham and Roma, having won the Europa Conference League with the Italian side in 2022.
Super Eagles forward, Ademola Lookman has revealed the most difficult game he played at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.
Super Eagles coach, Jose Peseiro used Lookman majorly on the left wing during the tournament in Ivory Coast and he started six of the seven matches.
Lookman scored three goals and was named in the Team of the Tournament.
Nigeria encountered the Bafana Bafana of South Africa in the semifinals where they won via penalty shootout.
They went on to play the host nation, Ivory Coast in the final and were beaten 2-1 by the Elephants.
However, the Atalanta forward told Calister Enejele that the Super Eagles’ opener against Equatorial Guinea was the most challenging.
“‘Probably Equatorial Guinea because we played at 2 pm, the heat and humidity was tough for us. Probably you have to say that game,” he said.
Kelechi Iheanacho, a Super Eagles and Leicester City striker, has rejected a new contract with the club despite interest from Unai Emery’s Aston Villa, Soccernet.ng reports.
The 27-year-old striker has made only ten league starts in the EFL Championships this season, with Enzo Maresca preferring Zambian Patson Daka to lead the line for the Foxes.
Iheanacho, along with Wilfred Ndidi, are nearing the end of their Leicester City careers, as their contracts expire in June 2024. While the defensive midfielder wants to join a Premier League top-six club, Iheanacho is not interested in staying at the King Power Stadium.
According to Football Insider, the highest-scoring African in the history of the FA Cup was offered an improved deal with a weekly wage of £65,000, but the Nigerian striker rejected the offer.
‘‘He (Iheanacho) has been offered a new deal but not prepared to sign. But we will wait till the end of the season and see,’’ the report stated.
Several reasons might have sparked Iheanacho’s reaction, with the absence of playing time at the forefront. According to Football Fancast, Aston Villa are interested in bringing the 2021 FA Cup winner to Villa Park as a backup for Ollie Watkins.
The Villains have enjoyed a great season under Unai Emery and have their eyes locked on a place in the UEFA Champions League next season. Should Iheanacho join Villa, he would have the luxury of playing alongside skilled players like Douglas Luiz, Leon Bailey, Ollie Watkins and Moussa Diaby.
Aston Villa view Iheanacho as an experienced Premier League forward, representing a summer bargain that could make all the difference next season at Villa Park.
In 10 starts for Leicester, Iheanacho found the back of the net five times and created one goal, averaging a goal involvement every two games.
The Foxes have secured a return to the English Premier League after relegating on the last matchday in the previous season.
South African club, Kaizer Chiefs have been put away by the heavy price tag of Super Eagles goalkeeper, Stanley Nwabali.
Chiefs, according to reports in South Africa have keen interest in the shot stopper but can’t afford his R30m (approximately £1.3m) transfer fee.
Nwabali has been linked with several clubs since his impressive performance for the Super Eagles at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations early this year in Cote d’Ivoire.
Saudi club, El-Ettifaq and Sky Bet Championship outfit, Queens Park Rangers are among the clubs which have been linked with the goalie.
“Kaizer Chiefs, once showing strong interest in Nwabali, are rumoured to have stepped back from any potential deal due to his hefty R30 million price tag.
“However, if Amakhosi are genuinely committed to reshaping their fortunes and bolstering their squad with notable talent, they should consider investing in players like Nwabali, especially given the uncertainty surrounding Itumeleng Khune’s future,” Goal.com writer, Celine Abrahams, noted.
The 27-year-old has two years remaining on his contract with Chippa United.
[DailyPost]
Chelsea have reportedly developed a strategy to try and snatch Napoli star, Victor Osimhen this summer.
The Blues are mulling an offer in the region of €80m-€90m plus Romelu Lukaku and an unnamed young player for the forward.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side are, however, prepared to pay the striker well over his current €10m net per season wages.
Osimhen has a release clause of €120m in the contract he signed last December.
Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis is known to be a tough negotiator and it remain to be seen if he will be willing to accept the offer.
Ligue 1 giants, Paris Saint-Germain are also reportedly interested in the Nigeria international.
Liverpool winger, Mohamed Salah, on Sunday, matched a record set by Wayne Rooney during their 4-2 win over Tottenham.
Salah, Andy Robertson, Cody Gakpo and Harvey Elliott all scored at Anfield before the hour mark, as the Reds kept their faint title hopes alive.
As well as scoring the opener, the ‘Egyptian King’ assisted Elliott for his wondergoal.
This brings his tally for the campaign to 18 goals and 10 assists so far.
Salah has now become the first player to score 10+ and assist 10+ in three consecutive seasons.
Furthermore, he has become just the second player to hit double figures in both metrics in five separate seasons.
The only other player to achieve this feat was Rooney while he played at Manchester United
Cristiano Ronaldo has said that he was not bothered about scoring another hat-trick but cares more about his team.
The veteran Portuguese forward scored his 66th hat-trick of his career and it’s 52 goals in 52 games this season.
Ronaldo reduced his tally to just 10 goal to reach 900 career goals as Al-Nassr beat Al-Wehda 6-0 in the Saudi Pro League on Saturday at Al-Awwal Stadium.
The Portuguese icon scored his 50th goal of the season with his first one in the match along with netting his 66th career hat-trick.
He, however, said his priorities lie with the team rather than individual achievements.
“I don’t care about scoring a hat-trick as much as I care about the team,” the 39-year-old said after the game.
Ronaldo is just 10 goals away from 900 career goals and when asked about that post-match, he said:
“I always say, numbers come naturally, so I don’t attach numbers, they come.”
Super Eagles head coach, Finidi George has said it is important for the Super Eagles to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Finidi insisted that he will do his best to ensure the Super Eagles didn’t miss out on a place at the mundial for the second consecutive edition.
Recall that the Super Eagles failed to qualify for the last edition of the global soccer fiesta hosted by Qatar.
The three-time African champions face a tough task of making it to the 2026 World Cup finals after drawing their opening two matches against Lesotho and Zimbabwe.
The Super Eagles will face South Africa and Benin in their next two games in the qualifiers.
Finidi said he would need the prayer and support of all Nigerians to succeed on the job.
“The World Cup qualification matches against South Africa and Benin Republic is a collective responsibility for all Nigerians.
“I know I am in charge now and the heavy responsibility is on me to win the two world cup matches,” Finidi told reporters during his visit to Nigeria Football Federation’s office in Abuja.
“I will do my best to ensure success and qualify for the World Cup. I am also in touch with the players and they are ready and willing to give their all having missed out in the last edition held in Qatar.
“In terms of having knowledge of our opponents, I have been following them.
“The world today is a global village, one can monitor anything in the comfort of his/ her sitting room.
“We need prayers and support from everybody, this is our own, we can do it and do it well. I watch our players weekly as they play in their various clubs.
“Honestly my target is to win the two matches and not to be judged with the two international friendly games played.”
Finidi’s appointment as Super Eagles head coach was confirmed by the NFF last week.
More...
The appointment of Finidi George as the new head coach of the Super Eagles was a huge surprise in some quarters.
Of course, it was apparent that the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, was leaning towards an indigenous coach for the national team.
It is almost a pendulum with these appointments. When a local coach is not performing well with the Eagles, there will be calls for a foreigner. A yearning for a more tactically savvy handler.
When the foreigner fails – like Jose Peseiro did – the argument flips. You begin to hear talk of us encouraging Nigerian coaches, how they know these players more than anyone else and of course, the chance of harvesting talents from the Nigerian Premier Football League, NPFL.
The two names that were expected to be picked from this time around were Finidi and Emmanuel Amuneke.
A lot of observers expected the NFF to appoint Amuneke.
He won the hearts of the nation as coach of Nigeria’s U17 team, leading them to glory at the FIFA U17 World Cup.
On the continent, he qualified Tanzania for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations – their first in nearly 40 years.
However, Amuneke’s record with Egypt’s Misr Lel Makkasa and Zambia’s Zanaco left much to be desired.
The 53-year-old also failed to help the Nigeria U20 team qualify for the AFCON in 2017.
But Ayodeji Adegbenro, a Sports Administrator, insists the NFF has made the right choice.
“Finidi is miles ahead of Amuneke. He has won the league with Enyimba, has two seasons CAF Champions League experience. He also assisted Peseiro for 20 months,” Adegbenro tells DAILY POST.
“Amuneke has failed at every coaching position since he won the U17 in 2015. He’s one of the major reasons we didn’t qualify for Qatar. He shouldn’t be anywhere near the Super Eagles job,” he added.
Many have argued that Finidi represents the debris of Peseiro’s time in charge.
Adegbenro explained, “If we wanted Peseiro’s shadow looming over us in the shape of Finidi, why didn’t we just keep the Portuguese?
“He wanted more money to stay. We couldn’t afford it.
“However, my point is that, given a choice between Finidi and Amuneke, Finidi is way better.”
It could also be that Amuneke did not have enough backers in the room where the decision was made.
An insider tells DAILY POST the story of how Amuneke seemingly bungled the Eagles’ chances of playing at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
The source said: “He was drafted in by the Minister. On the morning of the second leg (against Ghana) in Abuja, he convinced Eguavoen to switch formation and play Osimhen as lone striker.
“Even though they trained with two strikers, Osimhen and Ighalo all week.”
All that is in the past. Looking to the future, Finidi has been saddled with the task of ensuring Nigeria qualify for the 2026 World Cup.
Already, the three-time African champions find themselves in third place in Group C of the qualifying series, behind Rwanda and South Africa.
Their next fixture will be at home against Bafana Bafana.
“I think the expectation is for him to navigate the World Cup qualifying group. That is his immediate assignment.
“Having said that, I expect the NFF to give him the same support they would have given a foreigner. Allow him to pick the assistants he will work with.
“You might not pay him as much as you’re paying the expatriates. But pay him well. And pay him when due.
“And do not undermine his position before the players he is supposed to manage. Very important,” Adegbenro added.
Following Chelsea’s commanding 2-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur on Thursday, manager Mauricio Pochettino showered praise on Noni Madueke for his exceptional performance, particularly highlighting his support for youngster Alfie Gilchrist on the right flank.
Goals from Trevoh Chalobah and Nicolas Jackson secured a comfortable win for the hosts, with Pochettino emphasising the significance of a strong response after a string of disappointing results.
In contrast, Spurs endured a lacklustre display, prompting frustrations from manager Ange Postecoglou, who was visibly irked with Cristian Romero and Pape Matar Sarr during the first half.
Amidst the action, Gilchrist, making only his second Premier League start, showcased his talent on the right side of Pochettino’s defence, effectively neutralising the threat of Son Heung-min.
Reflecting on the match in his post-match interview, Pochettino commended Madueke’s impact, stating: “If you see today, Noni Madueke was amazing in the way, the effort that he helped the full-back. The midfielders and the whole team in both phases were connected.”
His words underscored the collective effort that propelled Chelsea to victory and showcased Madueke’s pivotal role in supporting the defensive line.
[DailyPost]
Real Madrid manager, Carlo Ancelotti, has confirmed that he will start two different goalkeepers for their next two matches.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Ancelotti revealed that Thibaut Courtois will start this weekend’s LaLiga clash with Cadiz.
Courtois has been out with ACL and meniscus injuries, but is now fit and available for selection.
However, Ancelotti will start Andriy Lunin for next week’s Champions League semi-final second leg against Bayern Munich.
“Courtois will play tomorrow, Lunin will play vs Bayern on Wednesday,” Ancelotti said.
When asked who will play a potential Champions League final, he replied: “I don’t know.”
[DailyPost]
Fresh facts about how Finidi George beat fan favourite Emmanuel Amuneke and other applicants to the Super Eagles job have emerged, The PUNCH reports.
Monday, the Nigerian Football Federation approved the recommendations of its Technical Committee to appoint Finidi as coach ahead of over 60 other local and foreign applicants.
Some of the other coaches who applied are US U-19 coach Michael Nsien, Spain-based former Katsina United coach Henry Makinwa, Sylvanus Okpala and Daniel Amokachi. Former Cameroon coach Antonio Conceicao and Dutchman Danny Bujis also reportedly applied for the job.
A member of the NFF Technical Committee, who spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the matter, said some stakeholders had tried to influence their decision in favour of their candidate.
He said Technical Committee members, however, resolved to stick to their guns and pick the best candidate for the position no matter whose ox was gored.
“Some of these people think they are the masters of the game, but they don’t know that some of us have been in this game for some time too. Do you know they set up a WhatsApp platform to decide and influence who will become the coach of the Super Eagles. But we snubbed them,” our source said.
“It could have been the other way round and we would still move on and support whoever the NFF picked.
“We know that some candidates that were not picked for the job would complain, that’s life for you. The important thing now is to support who is there and see how we can qualify for the World Cup. Now we have a manager, he’s going to coach the team, he has the desire to coach and he’ll definitely sit down with the federation officials to sort out his contract.”
On how they arrived at Finidi as the best choice for Eagles, our source said with just weeks to the crucial World Cup qualifiers against rivals South Africa, they needed someone who had an in-depth knowledge of the squad, and not a new coach who would come with a new philosophy alien to the players.
He added that Finidi, having served for 20 months under Peseiro, emerged the right man for the job, while his knowledge of domestic and continental football as current NPFL champions Enyimba also gave him the nod.
Our source added, “Finidi, with due respect to him, has been on ground, and he’s in tune with the dynamics of the modern game, and that for us is a big plus. He’s working with Enyimba, won a league title for them, has coached on the continent and he’s been busy coaching in recent years.
“At the national team level, he’s been with the Eagles as assistant and we know we have some tricky World Cup qualifiers ahead. A new coach might come in with tactics that the players will struggle to adapt to. We don’t need that now.
“Also, as a coach who understand the domestic league very well, his experience in this regard will come in handy when selecting players for the home-based players.”
The Technical Committee member added monetary considerations also played a role in Finidi’s choice for the job.
“Who will pay a foreign coach $70,000 in today’s Nigeria? The money is just not there,” our source added.
Meanwhile, some of the applicants have spoken on the process that led to the appointment of the new coach.
Even though Emmanuel Amuneke described the process as “fair”, he admitted that there was no interview to select the best candidate for the job.
“There was no interview (for the job), neither was there any talk about the job with the federation. There was no contact from the federation nor was there an offer to take the job. They have chosen a new coach, who is one of us, we just need to move on and support him,” Amuneke said.
When asked if he thought the process of selecting the candidate for the coaching role was transparent, US U-19 coach Michael Nsien, who also applied for the job, said, “It depends on people’s standards of process. There weren’t interviews, which I think is basic, it would give the appearance (that it was transparent) at least.”
Nsien, a former U-23 national team star, is positive Finidi will get a competent backroom staff to work with.
“Hopefully he is surrounded with good staff,” he said.
Another applicant, Sylvanus Okpala, who won the AFCON title in 1980 as a player and as an assistant coach in 2013, declined comments on the process that saw Finidi emerge as the winner but congratulated the former Ajax star.
He said, “The important thing is that Finidi has been selected and he is there now. All he needs is the support of everyone to excel, but the biggest support he can get is the one he gives to himself to be successful and take the Eagles to where they belong.
“I feel okay with Finidi’s appointment as the new Super Eagles coach because all of us cannot be there and obviously only one person will be appointed among us. I congratulate him and I wish him the best, hoping that he will take the Eagles to the next level.”